jeer
pronunciation
How to pronounce jeer in British English:
UK [dʒɪə(r)]
How to pronounce jeer in American English:
US [dʒɪr]
-
- Noun:
- showing your contempt by derision
-
- Verb:
- laugh at with contempt and derision
Word Origin
- jeer (v.)
- 1550s, gyr, "to deride, to mock," of uncertain origin; perhaps from Dutch gieren "to cry or roar," or German scheren "to plague, vex," literally "to shear." OED finds the suggestion that it is an ironical use of cheer "plausible and phonetically feasible, ... but ... beyond existing evidence." Related: Jeered; jeering.
- jeer (n.)
- 1620s, from jeer (v.).
Example
- 1. They all jeer at the foolish speaker .
- 2. The big boys jeer at tom because he is so small .
- 3. Builders jeer at us even when we 're just walking down the street .
- 4. Don 't jeer at the person who came last in the race-it 's very unkind .
- 5. Here stands columbus , whom the street boys used once to follow and jeer , because he wanted to discover a new world ; and he has discovered it .